Maniac Monday!

We have a whole lot of things to share from Room 408 this week!
We are practicing counting by 5s and 2s, as well as noticing even and odd numbers.

Our current research is Shrunken Apple Heads and how they are changing.

Step 1:  We used the apple peeler to peel apples.

Step 2:  Then we carved out a face.  

Step 3:  Then, we dipped it in a lemon juice and salt mixture.

Step 4:  Finally, we put it on a stick.

We are waiting to see how they change as they sit out over the next week or so.  We had a lot of delicious fun doing this experiment, as you can see from our Apple Movie:

This morning Erik brought in a fruit for our Discovery Table.

We decided to do some research and figure out what this fruit was.  The kids used their ipads to read the QR codes that would bring them to an online glossary of fruits and vegetables.

After some research, students think they have found a few likely matches.  

Have you ever seen a fruit like this?  Where?  Some of us think we saw it at Charlie's County Market, but it was not for eating.

Paper Clips and Spelling City

Last Friday we did an inquiry on paper clips with Mrs. Edwards.  We talked about how paper clips work, predicted if the paper clip was one or two pieces of wire, and learned a cool trick we could do with paper clips and pencils.

We also have been learning to email ipad screen shots of our work to Mrs. Henning to make a permanent record of our learning.  Today we explored a new spelling app and practiced our "Self-Help Spelling Strategies" that we have learned so far.  

Our Self-Help Spelling Strategies:

1. We are learning to say a word slowly and record what we hear.  

2. We also know that some words you just have to remember.  We call these "Rabbit Words."

Here is a video with more of these pictures:


What shape did you make with the paper clips?

October is Flying By!

I feel like I blinked and all of a sudden it is the middle of October!  These past two weeks have gone particularly fast.
We have been hard at work, as usual, as you can see from the video:



We have been learning that we can pair up numbers to find out if they are odd (one left over) or even (they match up perfectly with no leftovers).
Do you see any sets from the picture below of our Morning Message that are odd or even?  Which ones?  How do you know?

Watermelon or Seed Idea?

Today in Writer's Workshop we talked about our writing topics. We read two books by Donald Crews. 

The first one is called BigMama's, and it is about how when Donald Crews was little he spent a few weeks each summer at his grandma and grandpa's house.

Then we read the book Shortcut, and found out that this story was about one specific memory that happened one of those summers that Donald Crews spent at Bigmama's.

We are trying to write about specific memories, just like Donald Crews did in his book, Shortcut.

We talked about how some ideas are too big, like a watermelon.

Within a big idea, though, there are lots of little seed ideas.

For example, school is a too-big watermelon idea, but one seed idea would be our memory about when Austin got stung by a bee. Another seed idea from that big watermelon school topic could be when we found a vine swing in the woods when we observed objects closely.  Another example of a school seed idea is when today during the fire drill I had to run so fast to get to the door before it closed and locked us out.  We can be really specific and add good details with a seed idea.

Without even planning to go with our lesson, Alex brought in apples for snack.  Many of the kids ate so much of the apple, looking for the tiny seeds!

Can you give an example of a too big watermelon idea, and then a specific memory like a seed idea?

Alligator Greater

We have been comparing numbers in math.  Today we introduced the greater than (>) and less than (<) symbols and played a game called Handfuls to practice using the symbols.
They enjoyed this video:


Can you make up a greater than or less than number sentence? For example:
        15 > 9
15 is greater than 9

Roald Dahl

We are almost done with the book James & the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

We learned that Roald Dahl wrote his stories in a shed in his backyard.
We explored the shed in a virtual tour on the Roald Dahl museum site. (click on the highlighted words)
Once you get to the museum site, click on "Discover Dahl" and then "Explore the writing hut" or click below:

We thought it was interesting that he cleaned off his eraser dust and swept it off onto the floor, but didn't allow anyone to clean it up!

What did you find on the site?

Time to Celebrate!

Our whole entire class got all level 3's today!!! And that includes our morning with the guest teacher!!!

Fifty Nifty

Because of the subs for PALS screening, I feel like I have hardly been in the classroom! :(
 I don't have too many pictures or videos for the blog, but I do know the kids love our "Fifty Nifty" song that lists the states in alphabetical order.  I can't tell you how many times I have actually used this song to help me.  Our goal is to memorize all the states and be able to sing along with the whole song.
Here you go:


Which is your favorite state, and why?

Jane Goodall

We read the book The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps:

We learned about how Jane was a watcher and observed patiently and closely.  She was also a writer who took notes of her observations.  When she found out the chimps were in danger of becoming extinct, she traveled the world and spoke out to help protect them.
The kids were surprised to discover that Jane was a real person.
Here is a video of Jane's work:


What animal interests you?  What animal would you like to study, just like Jane Goodall?